Tea with Mussolini (1999)

TEA WITH MUSSOLINI is based on Franco Zeffirelli's autobiography,
when, as an abandoned young man in Florence, he was watched over
by a cackle of crusty Brit widows. Grand dames Maggie Smith, Judi
Dench, and Joan Plowright play three of the aforementioned expa-
triates, while Cher also appears as a glamorous American who was
passing through at the time. I tried to have TEA on Saturday af-
noon at the thin-walled Raleigh Grande and promptly fell asleep.
Was I the victim of a boring movie? Spiked water in the water
fountain?? Italian lunch buffet three hours earlier??? Who
knows; who cares. I left at the hour mark, apparently at the
exact moment that the movie got better. Or so said my companion.
With Lily Tomlin, Charlie Lucas, Baird Wallace, and Claudio Spad-
aro as the man who made the trains run on time. (Rated "R"/~110
min.)
Grade: N/A
Copyright 1999 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros